Author: Scéal Heritage Consultancy

Scéal Heritage were delighted to be a part of Heritage Week 2020 by being a contributor to the new “Connecting with Heritage” podcast series created on behalf of Leitrim County Council. The podcast series aims to highlight much of Leitrim’s natural, built, and cultural heritage from the people who know most about it. The podcast shares stories about potato planting and traditional farming methods; an overview of ecology and conservation; discussion on what sets Leitrim’s singing and fiddle music apart from other counties, and the importance of Leitrim’s prehistoric archaeology – all from a range of experts and local people passionate about heritage.

Scéal spoke about the importance of the prehistoric archaeological landscape in Leitrim. We highlighted some of the wonderful monuments such as the passage tombs at Sheemore and Sheebeg, and the wealth of wonderful artefacts which have been uncovered in Leitrim, including the Keshcarrigan Bowl and the Annadale shield (pictured above, image copyright NMI). You can listen to the podcast through either of the links below:

https://leitrimheritage.buzzsprout.com/

Heritage Home – The Leitrim Holy Wells Project – Connecting Through Heritage with Leitrim County Council

The Leitrim Holy Wells Project is a community heritage initiative to research Holy Wells across Co. Leitrim. The first phase of the holy wells project took place this past summer (2026). Experts surveyed 44 known wells, probed traditions surrounding them and searched for previously unknown wells. Some date from pagan times. Others were brought into the Christian faith and used for baptisms. Historian John Cronin tells Carole about these historic sites and the rituals carried on “patrún” or pattern days. Carole also speaks to archaeologist Alva MacGowan and visits Padraig McKeon in Kilclare whose land is home to a holy well. ‘Heritage Home’ consists of four new podcasts exploring aspects of Leitrim’s rich heritage, produced by broadcaster Carole Coleman, and form part of the Connecting Though Heritage podcast series, a Leitrim County Council heritage project funded by the Heritage Council.

1. Heritage Home – The Leitrim Holy Wells Project 42:33
2. Heritage Home – The Leitrim Fieldnames Project 32:48
3. Heritage Home – The Leitrim Sweathouse Project 34:11
4. Heritage Home – The Leitrim Basket Project 32:46
5. Leitrim Memory Meitheals – Acheson's Mill Part Two 01:31:37

Scéal Heritage was delighted to be awarded the contract for the project role of Exhibition Researcher & Curator for compilation of an exciting new permanent exhibition on the life and works of Fr. Frank Browne at Emo Court, Co. Laois.

Scéal will be working closely with the OPW Historic Properties Team on this project, and looks forward to creating an exhibition which captures and commemorates the story of a unique and prolific photographer of the twentieth century.

Fr. Browne was one of Ireland’s greatest documentary photographers, recording thousands of images of the people and places of Ireland which today provide an important visual history of Ireland in the twentieth century. As a Jesuit priest, he spent twenty-eight years at the then Jesuit novitiate at Emo Court, a large neo-classical mansion in Co. Laois, which held his homemade photo laboratory where he processed some of the 42,000 photographs which he took throughout his life.

Fr. Browne first achieved fame for his photographs of the Titanic, which he captured while on a first class ticket from Southampton to Queenstown (Cobh) in 1912. In 1915, he became a World War I chaplain to the Irish Guards fighting in France and Southern Belgium, and used his photography skills to visually document this experience. As well as thousands of photographs taken of people, events, transport, and monuments across Ireland and Britain, he also photographed several Australian subjects during the two years he spent there in the years after the war.

Fr. Browne camera image is courtesy of Emo Court, Laois